Best way to build a command roster?

[thewarriorhunter]

I am going to participate in the Kill Team nights at my FLGS this month. They're going to run Arena using a command roster.

 

I've only played 'vanilla' KT and haven't utilized the Command Roster mechanics so I was wondering what is the best way to build a roster?

 

Should I just throw a couple of each specialist on there and take what I need once the mission is rolled? Is it better to build in blocks of 25/50/etc points so that I can get closer to 100 points for the mission? Anything to keep in mind while building my roster?

[Tordeck]

It all depends on your faction. Some play only one way generally and don't really need more than a core list. Some have a bit more diversity. And some of it just comes from experience. For example when I started Death Guard I built one of every weapon option and had a full roster with various specialist options and as I have played and done well in a couple events I have found I only really need 4 Plague Marines and 8 Poxwalkers, 3 of those PM stay the same every time and the last one is match up dependent and they cost the same so its easy to plug and play.

 

Speaking to Arena specifically. It favors teams like DG and Nids who can field a solid amount of bodies for objectives.

 

The game as a whole favors weapons that auto hit and/or have a multi dmg characteristic.

[Kinstryfe]

Look at some of the arena missions you may be playing and make up a few separate lists you'd be likely to use. Think if there's anything you'd be likely to change if you were up against X, Y, or Z army. Write those all down and see if there's any overlap. For example, most of my Astartes teams use one of two leaders, so I put those two on my roster. Repeat and tweak lists until you hit 20 or fewer models. Along with your command roster, I'd recommend prepping multiple 100pt lists so that you won't be stuck when the time comes.

 

As tordeck said, if you find yourself using the same core to a list over and over, don't worry if you're under 20 models. All the tournaments and leagues I've played in, for example, every militarum player has just brought one (almost identical) list and just used it throughout. I've found that other lists like Astartes benefit from being able to tweak to their opponent a bit.

[Trevak Dal]

I get a legal pad, and then put down 20 spots and think about what I might want, what might be useful etc. Scratch it out until I got what I'm looking for and go from there.

 

Meltaguns are undervalued, until you roll up and shotgun some guy to hell and gone.

[Exilyth]

When building a roster, I usually start out by writing down a bunch of loadouts I would like to take.

Then I try and build a list for a mtach out of the loadouts.

 

I go over this list and look at what it brings to the table and what it misses.

Then I add a few models which patch holes in the list if traded in vs other models.

 

Alternatively, build a few lists (e.g. against hordes like militarum, against elites like SM, ...), look at what is common and what differs between the lists and try to reduce the model count down to the amount required for a roster.

 

Doing this, you will probably notice some loadouts with the same point costs - thoose can be swapped for each other to tailor a list.

Then, there can be multiple models with the same combined cost, which makes this whole part of the list exchangable.

 

E.g.

building lists for Astartes I noticed the cost of a scout with missile launcher and a tactical marine with heavy bolter being the same.

This means whenever I build a list with a sniper scout with missile launcher, I could swap for a tactical marine with heavy bolter without a change in point cost.

 

Thus, taking both a scout with missile launcher and a tactical marine with heavy bolter in my roster gives me a weapon vs elites and a weapon vs hordes to be swapped in as needed.